by Isaac A. Brambila, inewsource San Diego Documenters program coordinator
About a year and a half ago, inewsource brought the Documenters program to San Diego. The program works to train and pay community members to become Documenters — people who attend local government meetings and take notes of the proceedings. The move added San Diego to a list that included nearly 20 such programs throughout the United States at the time. Today, the Documenters are in nearly 30 cities.
The concept is simple, through education and the sharing of resources, inewsource helps community members to better understand their local government and trains them to listen and take detailed notes. Through those notes, the program pushes forward a collaborative effort to produce community-powered news. We report on hyperlocal decisions, follow up on questions and concerns that community members voice, and investigate local programs and projects that local governments oversee.
This approach is different from what news organizations have traditionally done. It requires trust and a lot of coordination, and it relies on the belief that people want to know about their local government’s decisions and feel empowered to inform their friends and neighbors. It helps us trust each other to work together to cover issues and government decisions that would otherwise go unreported.
In that past year and a half, we’ve seen a lot of growth. Our San Diego program started with one library and one school as partners and went on to develop partnerships with more than five news organizations and more than 40 community partnerships throughout San Diego. We have trained more than 320 community members, published more than 275 notes on government meetings and written dozens of Documenters-powered news stories.
And it’s only a start. We know our program will only grow with time.
If you want to join our effort or know someone who can help our mission and would like to donate to our cause, visit sandiegodocumenters.org. And keep an eye out for more Documenters-powered stories.
